friends

Oliver the Friend…and finding a tribe of friends

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Growing up I wasn’t the popular kid nor was I part of the in crowd. I would say that I was purely independent and happy with that. But there were times more times than not that I was excluded from doing and hanging out with certain people and groups that I just didn’t fit in. Experiencing those was one of the hardest things that I had to deal with. I don’t blame this experience but it is because of this that I have become a little skeptical when some people / groups want me to take part in any activities. My usual first conclusion is, they want something from me and then afterwards I would be no use anymore. And most of the time this was the case.

These experiences where one of the hardest things to deal with and endure while I was growing up. Being excluded because I didn’t fit in was really hurtful and hard to deal with for me. I didn’t cry but my feeling and heart were bruised and aching.

The way I death with this was by keeping myself busy with things that I enjoyed and loved. Those things included playing sim city, sketching out buildings and cities, and keeping with my studies. I had friends I could hang out with but the fear of being left out of things made avoid hanging out with them sometimes. I didn’t want to put myself through that.

The one thing that did help was that I knew that there where people and friends out there to be made that would like me for me and wouldn’t intentionally leave me out.

And I did eventually find those friends. These are friends that I feel completely myself and I genuinely get excited to hangout, catchup, and be around with.

One group of friends are a few from high school. These friends I met through the sports I did in high school. These friends I connected with because they not only supported me. They also challenged me and humbled me. These are the friends that nominated me not because I was the fastest but because of my heart. One these friends, I fondly remember said to me, you have good heart. Which at time and even today means so much to me. Hearing that made me see that I was doing exactly what I was suppose to do, which was to be a friend and care and support those around me.

In addition to these friends are some friends that met in elementary school and junior high school that I’m still friends with to this day. These are the friends that when I hangout with them it feels like I just say the, last week. These are the friends that I made during the years of rejection, that didn’t reject me but wanted to be my friend. And to those friends, your friendship over the years have been great. And although we don’t talk much these days, but when we do hangout we start where we just left off. I sincerely cherish and I’m very thankful for our friendship.

The next set of friends where the ones that I met in college. These are the friends that hung out with and grew together with during those formative college years. These are also the friends that I got drunk with the first time but cared for me and made sure that I was taken of. I know it is funny to call people friends when they got you drunk however these are the types of friends that you can trust. They are the ones that will care for you no matter what. These are the friends that on drop of a dime will go out of their way to help you out when you are need. They are also the friends that will challenge you and humble you. They are the brothers and sisters that you didn’t have but you have now because you have such a bond with them. And these are the types of friends that you really need in life.

And then there’s a new set of friends that along with my previous set of friends have help me embrace a new me and let see that my dreams and ideas are more possible than before. These friends I have only met and made recently. However in the short time that we have gotten to know each other, I have grown close and find of each and everyone of them. These friends are not just great friends but they are sources of inspiration. They have not only let me see the impossible as possible but they like my other friends have challenged, humbled, and care for me like family. It is when I’m with these friends that I get my batteries recharge and feel content and peace. I can take a deep breathe and feel relax. I’m grateful and lucky to have met these friends and connected to them on another level that I haven’t been able before. And that’s not to say that my friends previously mentioned didn’t do that because they did in a lot of ways. I just wasn’t there yet in my life and ready however they are part of my life now and only made it richer. But this set of friends have enriched my soul, mind, spirit, thought, and dreams become alive and ready to burst out. They are there to help celebrate for what I can offer to the community at large. And they do so willing not because they have to but because they WANT to be there and only want me to see me succeed.

My tribe of friends however small is a very special and tight knit of friends. If you are reading this you will know who you are. And I want you to know I appreciate whole heartedly very hi, how are you, smile, hug, hand shake, laugh, encouragement, joke, high five, question, and moment that I share with each and everyone of you. You guys give me so much and don’t ask for anything in return, you just genuinely want to care for me. I and blessed and happy to have you part of my life. You give me peace, energy, and love like a family does. And with the biggest hug and heart; THANK YOU! <3

Constructability & Getting Things Done… Oliver The Engineer, the Photographer, the Friend

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Today wasn’t as bad as yesterday.  Let’s start that off.  I actually got stuff done, attended a meeting, submitted a report, and caught with some good friends.  Overall it has been a great day with a side of OMG here we go again.  🙂

The morning started off as it always does.  Normal routine, Starbucks then work.  When I arrived to work everything was just fine and normal.  My coworker doing their normal morning banter.  But I immediately got to work on my report because today was the meeting of our constructability review.  The constructability review is a basically the first time that every department sees how the project is coming along and also to see if the project is “buildable.”  When I say this, it means this is when everyone looks at the plans and see if all steps where considered and if the proposed design can work under real work conditions.  There’s a saying at work that just because it looks good on paper it doesn’t mean it’s going to work.  Basically we have do a double take on our work to make sure that everything works not just from an engineering stand point but also a construction stand point.  Because there really is no use for us to continue working on a project if you can’t build it.  Or the better way to look at it is design it in away that we can avoid problem when  it is in the field.  By doing this alone can save thousand and in some cases millions of dollars of change orders because certain things just can’t be bulit because of certain constraints.

So with my meeting at 10:30pm, I wanted to get my project done early enough.  I knew that during the day they would ask me if it was ready to be reviewed and submitted.  I needed to make sure that it was reviewed accordingly therefore I can have a fresh set of eyes look at a report that to me looks the same after the months that I have worked on it.  Now it was 10:30am and the report was about 75% completed but I had to go and make sure to be present at the meeting so I can hear the comments that the other departments were making and also so I can defend our design.

Engineering is more than just the math part, engineering is also base on teamwork and communication.  Without at least one of these aspects a lot of our project will not get done or design with all interested parties involved.

During the meeting our section of the project came up and surprisingly there wasn’t much comments.  It was interesting that there wasn’t as many comments but at the same time I wouldn’t think there would be because I assumed a lot of the reviewers didn’t have ample time to review the plans because this is a very complicated design.  The only comments that were made for our part of the project were things that we already new and just had to fill in people on the reason why we did certain things.  But overall it wasn’t as bad as I thought.  So I left after my section was completed and when the discussion just changed from OMG really, why are you talking about that now kinda of thing.

Lunch today was one of our normal hunts.  Lefty’s pizza, where I usually get a slice and a side salad.  Always good and fast.

Then after retuning from lunch, I promptly finished and reviewed and project and I got it all submited and approved from my leads so I made it look a little more pretty and then submitted for more review.  It is this review that I am more interested in because it is there signature that we need when come down to crunch time.  But I was just happy to get one of the thorns pulled out and off my butt for a bit.  So I couldn’t ask for more.  Progress comes in small little victories everyday is what I say.

After getting off work, I finished I finally caught up and purchased some supplies that needed to fulfill photography order for the HOBY organization that I photographed a while back for.  After working on this project for the last two months it was nice to finally see a light at the end of the tunnel.  I got most of my stuff from Costco and Staples.  The beauty of the system is that I got everything I need ahead of time but I need a few more things to arrive to me before I can package and mail the products out to the students that were eagerly awaiting for them.  I hope that when they do receive them that they will like them.  So currently I’m working on burning their DVDs for them.  It is this burning process that takes forever to do for them.  Especially when you have to burn 40 or so full DVDs for them with only one DVD burner at your disposal.  So it is just a matter of waiting for the disc to be burned and packaged that takes the longest.  The only thing that I have to do after the burning process is acquire the correct postage for the packages to mail to the kids.  BTW kind of off the record, I guess it will be on the record via this blog. But is it me or is it them, do kids get taught what it means a mailing address consist of, because I got a few forms that simply just had their house number and street but that’s it or other pieces of information where missing from the form.  Luckily enought I had a google maps at my disposal because without it would not be able to find the correct address for these kids’ home.

So while I was burning DVDs and organizing the photos and files, I caught up some friends.  Today my friend Dave got a offer of a lifetime.   He got offered a job with one of the photoshop gurus that we follow and enjoy learning from.  From what started out as a hey would be interested in coming out to San Diego to teach and the hustle that he put in for the last two days, he managed to make a good impression and got offered a position.  This is an opportunity that he shouldn’t pass up for sure.  I’m so happy to hear when friends get offers like this because when my friends are happy, I’m happy, and when we are all happy we make our worlds go round and round.  Plus I know my buddy is also perfectly suited for such a job because he is just that guy that can make things happen and he is very motivated.

Another cool surprise that I got today was to catch up with my good Hollie.  It has been maybe about a week or two since Hollie and I caught up so it was time for us to do some catch up.  Although the circumstance that we are catching up is due to the fact that, thou who shall not be named, kind of gave Hollie a very weird answer to a workshop that we are attending tomorrow.  It was weird because the answer of just show and crash an event doesn’t work especially when you are not technically hosting or in charge of the event.  So after a few text we get talking.  And rumor has it that it might be somewhat overpacked and from the sounds and look of things it just doesn’t seem organized enough.  But Hollie and I have discussed that such things would not happen if Hollie, my friend Jason, and I were there still helping because this is just crazy to host the workshop in our normal meeting place.  In my opinion the place that we meet is already crowded enough plus it is super small.  So i don’t know how a large amount of people are going to fit in the place.  So only time will tell.  Other than that occurrence, Hollie and I caught up and got some discussion / planning done for an upcoming wedding that we are shooting together.  So that was good to do so that way we can have a game so that we can most effectively make sure that the photography is a success.  And other than photography related stuff we caught up on other parts of our lives.

Catching up with friends like Dave and Hollie is freaking super nice to chat up with because these are the friends that I know have my back and they know I have their back when they need it.  It easy to make “friends” but having true friends is hard to come by these days.

Well until next time.  Laters.

Dinner…Oliver the Foodie

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Note:  First I’m writing this post on Saturday morning.  The reason I’m writing this on Saturday is that I simply forgot.  Yesterday was a good evening of good food and good friends.  And when I got home I decided the chill and read a book.  Then about 5 minutes into my book I fell asleep.  Oops!  So I guess today I will be writing two post.  Okay now on to the post.

Yesterday was awesome because it was Friday.  Fridays are the day at work where can you actually almost get away with murder because of the fact that it is the last day of the work week and for the most part a lot of people don’t show up.  Not because they don’t want to but because a lot of people are on their 9/80 work schedule.  So parking is easy and actually productivity levels go up.  Not a lot of people in the building means that its quiet.

Also another tradition at work happens on Friday.  It’s Hawaiian Shirt day.  Every Friday my coworkers and I wear a Hawaiian shirt and impose the same rules as Tie Tuesdays.  And so far no one has gotten a free lunch out of the deal.  So I’m working on changing it up and trying to change a few rules to make it happen.  But so far I have not been successful.

It being the end of the week also meant that I was finally going to have some dinner with some really good friends that I’ve been trying to schedule dinner with for the past few months.  And today was the day that everything worked out for us to have dinner.

My friends Barb and Rowell are married.  I was fortunate enough to meet Rowell when I was starting in my photography pursues.  He was the first photographer friend I made and he was the first one to believe in my abilities to photograph a wedding.  I’ve second shot for him several times.  He truly help me more than he’ll know in my photography.

And I met Barb via Rowell, obviously.  Now that I think about it, I met Rowell when he was still single and they were dating.  But back to Barb.  I met Barb via Rowell but via social media.  I think it was a conversation either on Facebook or Twitter, I can remember.  But I think we started talking about some food and gave some suggestions on where to eat.  Well from there we struck a conversation and eventually a friendship.  I think the first time we met in person was when I was meeting Rowell for a payment from a photography a gig I did with him.

So fast forward to today, Barb and Rowell are married, and they have their first child, Gabe.  And Gabe is freaking awesome.  Kind of reminds me of when I was young, doesn’t cry and always seems just happy, at least that what my mom tells me.  So how can you not believe in what your mom tells you.

So being fellow foodies themselves, Barb, Rowell, Gabe, and I decided to meetup at Prep Kitchen in Little Italy.  Prep Kitchen is an amazing place that brings the food from farm to table.  What a great concept, like Miho Gastrotruck, they get their food ingredients from local resources.  Love the concept and hope it continues.

Prep Kitchen has such a cool vibe.  I said it looked a pinterest board come alive.  The board would be a restoration warehouse inspired style board.  The ceiling of the place that we sat in had a recycled wood boarding that was made into a rib-like structure.  And one of the walls was made up of recycle stair railing supports.  Great vide and design.

Other than great design the food was awesome!  It definately was stuff that I didn’t have before.  I started out with a Chilled gazpahco of Watermelon and Tomato with some mint.  Talk about a nice and refreshing for the summer.  Definitely a must try if they have it on their menu.  Between the four of us we shared a cutting board of olives, cured meats, cheeses and nuts.  For my main course I had Prep Kitchen’s WNL Burger which had Gruyere, Cured Bacon, Caramelized Onion & Farm Egg.  With a side of fries. OMG talk about delicious!!!  I had the burger cooked on medium.  All of the ingredients blended very well.  The farm egg was perfectly cooked and the yolk had a delicious cheesy flavor that added so much more to the food.  The bacon was just off the hook.  Egg and Bacon is one of my favorite food combos ever!  The onion and gruyere add that extra kick in the mouth that made the burger just out of this world.  The fries where also well seasoned with I believed was some truffle oil and some good salt.  To go along with my dinner I had a cocktail called the somersault.  Watermelon with some pepper, oh man was it good!  I would highly recommend Prep Kitchen for a good evening out to dinner.  After dinner we grab some gelato at Cafe Zuchero.

The evening couldn’t have gone any better.  It was filled with good food, good friends, and good conversation.  What else could you ask for on a Friday evening.  And to end the evening I did a act of random kindness.  When I got to the parking lot where I parked my car I noticed that a couple had just arrived and haven’t bought their parking ticket yet.  Knowing that it cost $12 to park there, when I arrived at my car, I asked if they just arrived and if they bought their ticket yet.  They said no.  So I just told them, let me give you mind.  So I did.  I just save someone $12 and I knew that my ticket wouldn’t go to waste.  Spreading a good is a nice thing.  So when the opportunity presents itself I do it without thinking about it.  So the Friday evening was a great success.  Hopefully soon I will be able to do one again soon.  🙂